Boulevard Music

Took my guitar in for a Martin warranty repair. They are a Martin authorized repair place. I called them, the guy got every detail about me other than my SSN, on the grounds of good customer service. When I arrived they stressed again how good they're customer service was. They asked me if I received an email confirming the appointment, even though I was there for the appointment and insisted that I look for the email.

Which was really weird lol. They checked out the guitar and said they would call Martin first thing in the morning and let me know. It has been a week. I called them today and got the cold shoulder. More questions, implying heavily that I did not give them enough information and was holding up them calling. Riddle me this, if you needed more information, why didn't you call me?

When I asked "have you done anything about this guitar yet" the guy said "we have a lot of customers coming in" and talked me off the phone. In a nutshell, don't make a point of telling me how good your customer service is and then have bad verging on rude customer service.

This is a awesome store. my brother and I went, just to look.you know, most places either pressure you.or ignore you totally.but these guys did neither. It was a truly comfortable experience. From this point on every ukulele I purchase will be from these guys!

Stopped by Boulevard for the first time after reading reviews and was very happy with my experience. Great service and prices and Luke did a great job restringing, tuning up and cleaning both my acoustic and electric guitars. I will be back!

Yesterday I took my newly purchased Fender Telecaster Special edition to store, they look at it and set it up in about 30 minutes, it plays perfectly right now, extremely knowledgable. They are authorized service center and they know what they are doing.

Pablo de Harmonee Kat stopped by to pick up a(nother) fine harmonica, and had a fine time giving an impromptu concert. Steve, store associate extrodinare, was all ears!

They are pretty nice but. I bought a Martin guitar at a good price there. I am a practicing medical doctor. I am fully vaccinated, have no symptoms and wear a mask; I wash my hands and use antiseptic gels all day. My cuticle is cracked and bleeding from all the washing and gels. They will not let you enter without hand washing or antiseptic gel. The hospitals and clinic do not require this and the county does not require this (they encourage it, yes). They have a right to make up any rule they want, but this is not directed by the county health department.

A lovely neighborhood music store that has a great selection of guitars. They also give piano and guitar music lessons. (Maybe violin too?) The staff is knowledgeable, friendly, and super down to earth. They have a parking lot on the side and there's usually street parking too. I'm lucky enough to live in Culver City so I just walk over.

This is not only an updated report on the outstanding service I received and continue to receive from Boulevard Music and their outstanding staff, but Martin Guitar's stellar warranty support for their customers. I had to return once again to have my HD-28V worked on for a similar binding glue issue in a different area on my guitar. This is a known problem with certain years of Martin guitars. Doug from Boulevard took great care and made my guitar as good as new, yet again.

What a rock star. Thanks so much! I highly recommend Boulevard Music! If you're in the area, this should be your first stop for your acoustic guitar needs, and if not, it's worth the trek. Cheers!

I became a customer many years ago, first drawn by their great concerts and workshops. They have a kind and helpful staff, lots of nice Martin and Eastman guitars and more - and even a few banjos, mandolins, etc. I always learn something from their employees every time I go. Really a great place.

Great shop for acoustic stringed instruments. Really nice staff, no hard selling, solid setups, and peripherals. Had several good experiences with them. Recommended.

Boulevard Music is a perfect example of why we all need to support local shops. (If we ignore them, they'll go away, and that's a bad thing.) You could go to Guitar Center and drown in walls of guitars, but you're likely to end up with some surly sales kid who could not care less about you or why you're there. You won't get personal attention or their time.

I walked into Boulevard Music with an old Strat and wanted a new set of strings. Aaron immediately helped me, checked the gauge and then -- without me even asking -- offered to line up the bridge, adjust the springs, and set the intonation. at no charge! They didn't try to upsell me or anything; they just helped. He did it just for the love of music and a sense of service. I now have a new, local guitar shop to which I am very happy to give my business.

Boulevard music is an oasis of music, musical instruments and the people who love all those things. My granddaughter and I have been there a total of three times to buy her a bass guitar, and I think it was Steve who helped us and guided us to the right one, how to hold the bass and what we needed to get her started. Since then, including yesterday, everyone who has helped us by phone or otherwise have been the utmost in customer service and knowledge.

I am buying a keyboard blindly so that I can get through this time more creatively and was on the phone with the owner not only talking about the differences in keyboards, but just about life as it stands now. It was a very grace-filled conversation. I will pick up the keyboard, and the other things I ordered soon with instructions on how to keep us both safe.

To end the conversation with humor, he said. I have my tape measure.don't try anything funny! :- I'm happy to be able to do my part in keeping this awesome place going!

These guys have been wonderful. My son has tried a few instruments over the years. The newest is the guitar. One of the employees was great in his willingness to tune the guitar for us in these crazy times. We were both safe with gloves and distance, as we waited outside. Thank you to the man who is helping us get through long days with good sounding music now.

I was having trouble with an amp I bought off reverb and Doug fixed it right up at a very reasonable price. Felt good going to a neighborhood spot and not guitar center or some specialist way out in the valley. All my repairs will go here from now on.

The staff is very knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. I've been shopping here for years. Believe it or not, I purchased a Casio Privia PX 160 and it was cheaper than amazon! When my dad found out.he went and bought one too! Can't beat that.

Boulevard Music is a very capable music store full of friendly and experienced musicians. I wanted to get back into Guitar and enrolled for the beginning group class - I am definitely an intermediate player but was encouraged by the staff to take the class. I was happy to do it. I ended up only taking a few classes and not returning because I didn't feel like I was getting much out of it.

The instructor was very talented and interesting to listen to, but it was all information I already knew. Next time I will look into private or an intermediate class. Give it a try! They have a great selection of instruments and will help you with any issues you have. The classes are reasonable!

Cool spot with friendly folks who were helpful when I came by with a unique repair question on an instrument they hadn't worked on before

First time here, wont be my last. I came in because my 8 year old got her mouthpiece stuck in her trumpet. Before I arrived I called to see if they could offer me any assistance. I was greeted pleasantly and told that "they could have a look and see what could be done." When I arrived I was greeted by two young men. They instantly knew who I was and assisted me! Aaron and Alec offered great conversation and got the mouthpiece out! Aaoron went the extra mile and cleaned the trumpet for me to insure it's proper function.

They were wonderful. Excellent customer service is rare these days so when I find "gems" I definitely feel they should be recognized. Keep it up! Hope to see you both again when I bring my daughter in for lessons.

The store responded about kicking my child out of drum lessons below. Their comments are inaccurate. I reached out to correct their inaccuracies, but they ignored me. I was not told my son was kicked out for "cancellations." I was told he was kicked out because there was another student who wanted to come every week as opposed to bi-weekly. Bi-weekly lessons had been our mutually agreed-upon arrangement.

Regarding cancellations: The shop does not allow same-day cancellations for lessons. This was not explained to me up front. They did not explain it when I signed up. When my child was sick and we called to cancel in the morning, 8 hours before his lesson, nobody told me they would be taking our $35 ticket. Two weeks later, when we showed up, I was out of tickets.

I thought the lack of communication about policies is problematic. Not allowing kids to miss because of illness seemed like a weird policy that deserved a more thorough explanation than a fine print line-item on a sign-up sheet. In this instance, they agreed and offered to comp the lesson. For the next months of lessons. We followed the cancellation policy perfectly.

If we were going to miss, we called more than 24 hours in advance. Once, I forgot to call until the day of. So they took $35 away. I did not complain. The policy had been explained to me. It was fair. In addition, I was mindful of the income loss to the drum teacher from missing lessons. Every time we cancelled (which was a few times over the summer due to travel), I requested a makeup time.

Every time, the drum teacher told me he would call to set one up. He never called. At best, he was being unprofessional; at worst, he was lying. Why have a policy that you kick kids out for following? Why kick someone out who was trying to reach out to soften the financial impact of missed lessons? Why lie about these things on yelp? The whole thing is shady. Avoid taking lessons here if you're looking to work with honest, caring people.

Came by here today- took our chances. They're open! Yay! We just took our chances. Glad we did. Aaron very helpful guy! Went out of his way to helping us out- excited and keeping our fingers crossed about the teachers schedule

This place is awesome! Took my new bass for a set up at another music shop and was told something was wrong with my truss rod so they couldn't adjust it but still charged me full price. Brought it to Boulevard Music and i forget the repair guy's name but he adjusted my truss rod and didn't charge me! He wouldn't take my money! Highly recommend Boulevard Music!

Really fun small venue for the 1950s band Big Daddy. Older crowd with a smattering of millennials. Very congenial group. Minimal refreshments.

Great place to buy a peace of music. They have everything your looking for. The people here are down to earth and good to work with. The derives is extremely helpful. On the plus side there are small venues here from time to time. Having a few locals preform during business hours. Friday's, Saturday's, and Sunday's.

I love the shows on Boulevard Music. I took guitar lessons there as well, and Gary's sensible teaching style gave me the strong foundation I needed to improve my guitar-playing.

Boulevard Music is one of those little gems in Los Angeles, tucked away in full sight.

Love this place, the prices, the intimacy, and the proximity to my home. Wish their chairs were more comfy (just another cushion on the back would be nice), otherwise, a great value. Sound is always great, and for me, it's a nice alternative to expensive dinner clubs or going to a concert. It's a bit old school, which I like. I really feel like I'm in some small town punctuated with real people. I'd love to see some jazz there from time to time, but not sure if that's even their forte.

This place tried to rip me off on trumpet repairs. I had a stuck valve, a small part of a bell that needed to be hammered back in place, and I asked for a cleaning. They tried to charge me $1049 and then they offered a price for my horn at $100. I found another place that was willing to fix it for $150. I have been playing for 20 years and have had repairs in the past, but never seen a place that tried to pull this kind of scam. Don't go here ever. They will try to rip you off.

I really wanted to like this place. The location is very convenient for me, it's a good space, and all the employees are very friendly. The problem with this place is, that the owner Gary manages all the operations so If any issues arise, you need to deal with him directly. His customer service skills, to put it mildly, are absolutely horrible.

I purchased a Martin D15 From Boulevard Music and had them install a LR Baggs Anthem pickup system in the guitar. After the install, there was an issue with a thumping sound on the B string. It was really noticeable when plugging into a PA system. It sounded like kick drum playing along with every note picked on the B string. Kind of defeats the whole purpose of having electronics in your guitar, if you can't play through a PA system.

After two months of dealing with this issue, and the third trip back to the shop, I spent some time with the luthier in the shop as he played my guitar, through an amp. Eventually he heard the thumping sound on my guitar. At this point we decided to replace the pickup to a LR Baggs Element. At this point Gary said it would be a straight swap, even though the Element is priced $30 less than the Anthem.

Pretty much an unprofessional practice on his behalf, but it didn't stop there. A few hours later, the luthier called me and said the new pickup made the issue worse, and he would talk to the owner Gary about the issue. A few days later I get a call from Gary, once again denying there is an issue with the guitar. How did it go from his luthier admitting there is an issue, and it getting worse, to there being no issue at all?

Really weird and unethical business practice. Continually denying a problem exists, like some how that would make it go away. Gary made all kinds of excuses, talking to me like i'm a child, saying "there's nothing wrong with the guitar" blaming it on my playing style and a bunch of other bullshit, I won't get into. Weird that none of my other three acoustic/electrics have that problem, even with my playing style. I've been playing guitar for over 40 years, I think by now I can tell if there's an issue with a guitar.

I ended up calling Martin Guitar customer service. They said it was most likely an issue with the saddle, or possibly a loose brace and any repairs were covered under warranty. I had a gig coming up, and didn't have the time to bring it to another shop. I picked up a new saddle, sanded it fit, and replaced the pickup with a K&K system. Problem solved, and it took me about an hour to fix it myself.

As far as I know, the saddle is part of the guitar, right? Gary could have easily spent his time fixing the issue, getting paid under warranty from Martin, and making a new customer happy. Instead he choose to deny, that there was an issue, and make the transaction a pretty painful experience for me. No apologies, nothing!

I've had Boulevard set up a couple of guitars for me, but when I wanted a new telecaster I really didn't think of them first. I went to GC and Sam Ash and all the usual places and played as many teles as I could. When I thought I knew what I wanted, I dropped by Boulevard to see if they could order it for me. I'm so glad I did. They had what I wanted in stock and at a better price than the big stores.

The kicker is that I didn't really love the guitar I thought I wanted. They then went to the back and took two more guitars out of boxes for me to try. If you've ever tried out guitars in a Guitar Center, you'll know what a crappy experience that can be. No service to speak of and three other people playing heavy metal licks on top of each other : Boulevard Music is the opposite of all that. Personalized service in a quiet setting.

The bonus is: prices are the same or better. I ultimately bought a Squier Classic Vibe, even though I was thinking about a much pricier Baja Telecaster. Sitting quietly and playing all the guitars gave me a chance to really see how they sounded and played. Thank you Boulevard, Steve and Aaron!

My spouse gifted me a couple of private lessons at Boulevard Music. I think she was tired of listening to me trying to teach myself. I had been playing for about 3 years and never had the desire to take lessons because I thought that anything I needed to learn I could learn for free online. I was wrong. Here is a SHORT list of things you won't learn online. Coming in late on chords. Raising your fingers to high, slowing you down.

Not accenting the notes properly. Moving too many fingers when changing chords. Using alternative finger placement for quicker chord change. INSTANT FEED BACK! Position, timing, going too fast, going too slow, and. I have taken five lessons and have learned more in those five one hour lessons then I did in a year of online instruction. My instructor is Mr. Stan Ayeroff, our initial meeting on the phone was less then ten minutes, and yet when we met in person he came equipped with a montage of songs that were right in line with my interests.

I told him I had never finger picked, but would love to learn, and he expertly took the reins. It's just five weeks later and I'm finger picking my way through Dylan's "Don't think Twice, It's Alright" If you are looking to start playing, improve your playing, or are just looking for feedback, go to Boulevard Music, they have the talent you need.

DEVOTED teaching staff. EXCELLENT live shows, one of the best, easiest open mic nights to deal with, no pretentious attitudes, extremely helpful guys, best guitar repair shop in Culver City, and some of the live act they have are TOP NOTCH...caught Dave Edmunds here twice, much to my delight. This is a prime example of why it pays to support local business.